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i have a MY2000, which i love (best car i've ever owned). the check engine light was coming on, and throwing a misfire code. i had my shop do a leak-down test, and they said the valve guides needed replacing. their quote to do the whole job was $2000 - 2400, depending on what the state of the head was when pulled. i decided to do the remove and replace myself, and just have the shop do the valve job. i am strictly an amateur, have been working on cars on-and-off for many years, but its been quite a while since i tackled a job as big as this. but i decided to try it for the learning experience (i wanted to know more about how my engine is put together).
bottom line is that, although i had some problems, it was a rewarding experience and ended up being fairly fun (except for a few moments...see below). i recommend anyone to do it, if you have a modicum of mechanical experience.
here are the details. i found on the internet a 2000-2003 service manual. the good news is that it gave valuable info on many steps, and provided a blueprint for the order to do things. i never could have figured it out without the manual. the bad news is that several things in the manual were impractical, or even out-and-out wrong. example: it said at one point to remove the intake manifold. there is no way in hell i could get to the lower bolts to remove them, so i took off the manifold with the head and then removed it on the bench. much easier than what the manual said. so my advice is to get a manual, but use your head in applying what it says.
since the honda engine is so well engineered, most steps are straightforward and relatively easy. the hardest part was getting my big hands in several very small places to perform certain steps. particularly hard was removing the water outlet cover in the back of the engine, and the heat shield by the exhaust manifold. what a bitch to get to! but i just kept on, and with a little help from some friends and a few beers and curses, got through the hard parts. eventually i got the head off and to the shop for the valve job.
turns out that in addition to replacing the valve guides, they decked the head and did a bit more valve work. total cost $600. then came the fun of replacement. this was actually easier than removal, partly because by then i knew a lot about how everything fit together than when i was removing it. getting the cam chain sprocket and cams properly aligned was easier than i thought it would be. adjusting the valve clearance was also easier than i thought it would be. just going step by step through putting it together worked fine, with no leftover parts ;-)
i got everything together and the engine started up without hesitation (i first removed the fuel pump fuse and cranked the engine over to get oil pressure before actually starting it up). however, the check engine light was on, with a P0441 code - crankcase sensor failure. after a bit of staring at the engine, i noticed that some wiring was broken near the front of the engine (on a bracket attached to the forwardmost bolt of the intake manifold). yup, that's the wiring from the crank sensor. so at first i tried to splice the wires together with it in place, but after several frustrating hours i gave up and decided i needed to pull the sensor with its wiring harness out entirely, and repair on the work bench. finding the sensor wasn't trivial, but by removing the idler wheel of the belt i found it. to repair the wiring harness i even had to remove the metal tines from the connector and re-solder new wires on (easy once you know how to remove the tines, which i didn't, but a friend did). once the harness was repaired and replaced, the engine ran fine. (by the way, i later thought i should replace the sensor/harness, in case my repair didn't hold, but when i went to the dealer and found they wanted almost $150 for the silly little thing, i figured my repair will hold just fine.)
when all was said and done, it took me about 8 hours to remove the head, about 12 to replace it (including diagnosing and fixing the broken wiring). i learned a lot about how the engine is put together, where everything (hoses, wires, etc) goes, and will be better able to repair it in the future. other than draining the oil and removing the exhaust manifold, all work was done from above, which imho makes for a much more enjoyable experience (i hate lying on my back with my hair in the oil on the garage floor working on the engine from below). it not only gave me real satisfaction to do the job, in the final analysis it was fun. i recommend to anyone with some experience (and the right tools) in working on cars to do it. final cost savings was $1200 - $1600 (only additional cost was about $200 for a gasket kit). definitely worth the effort!!
By removing a few simple pieces, you can pull the intake bolts. There are so many hoses going to the intake it will just sit there in place. It saves major time. But props for DIY.
55K miles. i was at first surprised that the valve guides would go so soon, but i learned from my honda specialty shop (the guys who did the valve job) that the guides in this engine are shorter than usual, typical of a high performance engine, and that's why they go sooner. c'est la vie!
go for it!!! just allocate enough time, and think through each step. if you get into trouble, shoot me an email <rockmore@cyladian.com> or, even better, have a more experienced person standing by the help you through some rocky spots.
Originally Posted by rockmore,Dec 23 2010, 06:13 PM
that the guides in this engine are shorter than usual, typical of a high performance engine, and that's why they go sooner.
Bad answer. S2k guide do not wear early. you have a problem specific to your car. If you dont find the underlying issue, youll be doing it again in another 55k.
12-23-2010, 09:52 AM
DIY Valve Job for fun and profit!
